Was signing Sheets in 2005 a mistake?

[trwi7]

but plenty of teams would take him if he were waived...that's limited value, but far from negative.

Obviously. He's not getting waived though which makes him pretty much untradeable and his value negative.

[logan82]

Just because he was paid market value doesn't mean he is worth the money to us. In my opinion the Brewers are not a team that should pay market value for an average player.

[Postseason2006]

If he was waived, we are responsible for his salary so of course someone would claim him. There wouldn't be one GM that would take him in a trade unless you got garbage in return.

[JoeHova]

I assume Al meant the kind of waivers where the claiming team is responsible for his salary, the kind that Manny Ramirez was put on a couple years ago when no one claimed him. I don't think Suppan would get claimed but I suppose it is possible he would, as Al posits.

[Ennder]

Suppan's K/9 was down to 4.56 from the high 4's. His BB/9 was up to 3.39 which isn't a huge jump. His HR/9 was up which is mostly just luck since his FB% etc was right where you expect it. His velocity was fine etc. I'm guessing the injury is the root cause of the K/9 slip and he is more or less the same pitcher as last year. Maybe a slight age related decline but nothing huge. His contract was probably too big but we are talking something like $1-2M a year too large, not something outrageous. Of course nobody would take him off our hands now because the contract was backloaded.

 

Of course he wasn't very good to begin with and he is a GB pitcher so he relies on infield defense which makes him a pretty mediocre mix with the Brewers.

[TooLiveBrew]

I thought I'd revive this thread since I came across something kind of interesting via The Disabled List Informer blog. The author, Chris Neault, does some work for The Hardball Times. In his most recent piece (10/16/08), he wrote a bit on Ben Sheets:

 

 

Ben Sheets, SP, free agent

The "sore elbow" of Sheets became a huge issue for the Brewers down the stretch, and clearly the injury affected Sheets to a large degree. An MRI taken late in September showed that he had a tear in a muscle near his right elbow joint. The imaging did not indicate ligament involvement, but in any event, this is a concern going forward. Any time you are dealing with soreness, pain, tightness, etc. around the medial (inner) elbow, you're dealing with smoke. And where there's smoke…

 

All indications at this time seem to point toward this injury responding well to plenty of rest, followed by conservative treatment. The Brewers are not going to bring him back, so he will land in a new home in '09. Plenty of teams are starving for quality starting pitching and may be willing to enter the negotiations for Sheets. From a fantasy perspective, I would draft Sheets only as a No. 3 or No. 4 starting pitcher. If you want to reach and make him your No. 2, I would suggest backing up that pick with another SP selection within the next one or two rounds. Elbow problems have a way of reoccurring, so don't be shocked to see him hit the DL next year with some form of elbow malady.

 

 

Perhaps I've just missed some recent news on Sheets, but I hadn't heard anything definitively yet on whether or not the Brewers would offer arbitration. Seems odd to me that Neault would make that remark so assuredly -- he's not the type to just blindly and/or uninformed-ly speculate on player transactions from what I've read of his stuff. He will speculate about injuries (kind of the point of his blog), but this really stuck out to me.

[bjkrautk]

Perhaps I've just missed some recent news on Sheets, but I hadn't heard anything definitively yet on whether or not the Brewers would offer arbitration. Seems odd to me that Neault would make that remark so assuredly -- he's not the type to just blindly and/or uninformed-ly speculate on player transactions from what I've read of his stuff. He will speculate about injuries (kind of the point of his blog), but this really stuck out to me.

There's a big difference between 'not willing to pay what the player will get on the open market' and 'not willing to offer a 1-year deal, with an amount to be determined by an arbitrator.' I'm about 90% sure* that:

- the Brewers will offer arbitration; and

- Sheets will end up with a 3-6 year deal with someone (making the offer moot, save for the draft picks)

 

*- The other 10% is a hedge that the Brewers medical staff know something I don't.

[TooLiveBrew]

I gotcha bj, but my question is the matter-of-fact way that Neault stated "The Brewers are not going to bring him back, so he will land in a new home in '09."

 

Just seemed like he'd heard something that we haven't

[RightFieldCoder]

He might be assuming that Sheets will command a multi-year deal that the Brewers would not be willing to match. I doubt anything has been said for certain.

 

Also, Sheets seemed set on trying free agency. The Yankees need pitching and can afford to double whatever the Brewers could offer.

[kramnoj]

Writers are trained to write confidently. It makes for a more definitive reading. The Brewers never made an extension offer to Sheets this year, at any time. Sheets even said something about knowing he's not wanted, or can't invite yourself back, or something to that effect. I'm guessing the author used information like that to come up with the definitive statement.

[TooLiveBrew]

Writers are trained to write confidently. It makes for a more definitive reading.

 

I know... but this seemed out of character for Neault. I've read his blog frequently & can't recall ever coming across something like what I boldfaced.

 

 

Sheets even said something about knowing he's not wanted, or can't invite yourself back, or something to that effect. I'm guessing the author used information like that to come up with the definitive statement.

 

That makes sense. I missed those comments from Sheeter; thanks kramnoj & Robin

[rluzinski]

It's fair to assume that any franchise like the Brewers won't be able to outbit everyone else on the open market. Free agents give home town discounts but it's not dramatically large on average.

[kramnoj]

I've read his blog frequently & can't recall ever coming across something like what I boldfaced.

 

Not that this is a big deal, but I find writing interesting. Sometimes writers will have a slightly different style depending on who they are writing for. It could be that THT wants him to be more assertive.